US, Britain, Turkey Escalate the Syrian Rebellion

Updated on August 11, 2012

Stinger training

A few days ago, both the British and Turkish officials announced two items that will escalate the rebellion in Syria against Syria's Assad. The first of 300 US Stinger anti-aircraft missiles have been given to select groups of rebel fighters inside Syria. The first batch of 40 have been accompanied with US\Turkish instructors. The Stinger missile remains a deadly force against most flying objects. It was first given to the Afghanistan warriors battling the Russians in the 1980's. This made the Soviets change their ground attacks drastically. Whether Syrian aircraft have countermeasures to thwart the missile heat seeking capability remains to be seen. Also, Britain has pledged $8 million dollars in aid to the rebel groups fighting Assad.

When both developments are combined, NATO fears that Assad may resort to using deadly chemical weapons because the Stingers do represent a threat to Syrian airpower. Thus, France has been setting up a chemical burn hospital in Jordan and Turkish soldiers near the border are issued gas masks.

Adding to the inferno is Hezbollah fighters have been discovered aiding the Syrian regime in its fight. Hezbollah is a proxy of Iran and control most of Lebanon. Small groups of al-Qaeda members from Iraq have also been infiltrating. While they support Assad's overthrow, they have something else in mind afterwards. These fighters are said to be well funded and better armed than many of the Free Syrian Army members and because of this, they are taking more control over the combat action, with the FSA, tacitly agreeing. They have no choice.

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